Recently settled as a result of contact with occidental society and the influence of Salesian missionaries (a Catholic order), the Hupda have small, incipient fields, but they are skilled hunters and specialists in the collection and cultivation of psychoactive and poisonous plants used not only by them but also by other neighboring groups with whom they interact.

It is about these plants that we will speak, specifically, those related to Banisteriopsis caapi in the Hupda cosmology. I will begin speaking about the Erythroxylum coca var. ipadu known by the Hupda as Patu. There are three distinct types:  Ipadu de Peixe, Ipadu de Pau, and Ipadu Abiú, which are valued according to flavor, Abiú being the most flavorful.

Close to all Hupda villages in the region you encounter small fields with enough mature Patu plants for the Hupda's traditional use of the species.

The Hupda eat Patu, as they say, daily. Starting at 4:30 pm the sound of the pilão (wooden mortar and pestle) can be heard in almost all of the households. The recently collected Patu leaves, dried in a manioc toasting pan, are beaten and the resulting powder is mixed with ashes of dried Embaúba (Cecropria sp.) leaves. The final product is then sifted through cloth to be taken orally in doses of a teaspoonful, or more, at a time in the roda dos homens; the circle of men.

At this time the events of the day are discussed. Taking Patu has an important role in the socialization of the Hupda men, being present as a stimulant when they relate to each other the trails used in hunting, discussing problems effecting the group, or when they are organizing a party. These conversations last from 5:00 to 10:00 pm, when the Patu prepared for the day is finished they begin preparing for sleep, which they all will be doing by midnight.

Limited to this specific use, except in the case of the shaman, the consumption of Patu is greatly enjoyed. In spite of testimonies by the Hupda of persecution by the Brazilian Federal Police against the plant, they do not want to give up its use because they recognize medicinal and stimulant virtues in Patu.

Patu is also important in the preparation for the ingestion of Carpi, Banisteriopsis caapi, because it allows the shaman to acquire the mental state and the physical purification necessary for the Carpi ceremony. Patu is chewed in great quantities while fasting for several days before the ceremony. The Hupda frequently associate the two plants, Carpi and Patu, considering both to be professors which emerged together when the world was created.

Another related plant, used simultaneously with Carpi is Xenhet, a red powder made from trees of the genus Virola. The Hupda utilize two species: Virola theiodora and Virola calophylla and consider this plant to be Carpi's relative.

Xenhet is at the same time a tree, a powder made from the tree, and an enchanted being. This being, the Xenhet, is thought of as being a man about eight centimeters tall who, when the shaman inhales the powder for the first time, starts living in the shaman's ear where he teaches the shaman about the visions and knowledge which comes from Carpi consumption.